I was on Mackinac Island earlier in the week. Of course, I spent some time at the Fort and was thinking about 'Trap-Door' Springfields and Dick Hosmer's ancestor & noted 'rifle shot', Captain William C. Manning, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

BTW - Mackinac Island was our second National Park (1875 to 1895) and became Michigan's first State Park, when the U.S. Army abandoned the post in 1895. One of the Army's last duties on Mackinac was administering the National Park.

The soldiers utilized two rifle ranges on the Island. A 600 yard range firing North, toward Ft. Holmes, and a 1,000 yard range (probably near where the air-strip now resides).

Use of the Ranges was seasonal, so as, not to "off" any wandering tourists, during July and August.

A few pictures I snapped at the Island:

---

A few more pictures (note - The 'Display' 23rd Regt. insignia is too late for period at Ft. Mackinac):

---

I've still never been to Mackinac Island, although when I was 13, we crossed the bridge to the UP and traveled up to Copper Harbor for a week!  One of these days, I'm going to go on a trip to the UP, with a day on the island too!

Oh Paul, you are soooo Troll! (Actually, We splurged for my Wife's Birthday).

Hey, let's borrow your Dad's Trap-Door carbine, go "Up North" to the Island, and excite the "Fudgies" with our 1,000 yard shooting.

---

Actually, I'd love to do that!  Dad won't let me touch the Trapdoors until he's gone... And he said I should never shoot em (although if he's gone... how's he gonna stop me, LOL). 

Thanks for the post! I believe that is WCM standing, rather stiffly, to the right.

Would be great if the three of us could make the trip. Sorta out of my orbit, but, you never know.

I'd be in for it! 

..... Now...  How to convince the wife????  Hmmmmmmm

Easy Peasy - Buy her a pound of fudge, take her for a carriage ride, and put her up at the Grand Hotel. You'll be a Hero for months!

---

Paul, do you think Shepler's Ferry staff would notice, if we brought fully equipped bikes to the Island?

---

I don't see a problem with it.  Of course, I don't work for the ferry service... but hey - what if we have to defend the fort???

Have you guys been to Fort Wilkins?  Been trying to get there for years now, but always seems to be made of unobtainium.  I know it's from the pre Krag era, but still, it's on my bucket list.

Ft. Wilkins, on Lake Fanny Hooe, is a Michigan State Park (and my first Fort!).

I was taken there as a baby on family picnics with relatives, who lived in the 'Copper Country'. I had ancestors, who lived there in 1865. I've been back there a few times, over the years, but, not in the last 20 years.

Located at Copper Harbor on the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, it is a 650 mile drive from Detroit. It is worth the drive, especially in the Fall, with tremendous colors and spectacular views of Lake Superior. (In July and August, probably the best time to see the Fort, the 'Blackflies' and Mosquitoes can be terrible).

The Ft. Wilkins post was built during the 1844 "Copper Rush", abandoned during the Mexican War, leased for time as a health 'retreat', and briefly utilized by an Army company in 1869-1870.

It is a neat 'back-water' military post, that was remote and beautifully situated. It does not appear breech-loaders ever made it there.

---

The Park is still open for another couple of weeks, but the staff is mostly gone (back to school).  As I say this I'm reminded of why we haven't made it there yet…..Tourist Season.  The photos I've seen in the past seem to show the docents in Civil War era uniform and gear so you're probably right about no breechloaders.  Even though it was garrisoned in the late '60s and 1870, the presence off only one company and only 4800 rounds of ammunition as you've shown, would hardly warrant a fully equipped garrison with the latest rifles.  Still, it looks like there has been a lot of nice work done to preserve the facilities.  Thanks for the reference material.

'olderthansome' - A lot of CCC and WPA work during the Depression preserved and stabilized some Keweenaw sites and created the Brockway Mountain Drive to Copper Harbor.

I hope you get there, soon. On a clear Fall day, you can see Isle Royale (National Park), about 65 miles away across Lake Superior.

The inspector's report in July, 1870, was very clear on the Arms. (I think the "stocks worn" refers to men's neck apparel).

---

My family spent more than a week in a cabin in Copper Harbor when I was 13 (as I said before, my only trip across the bridge).  We toured several of the abandoned copper mines, as well as the only working (at the time) mine, which was Central.  Some day, as me about the rock (almost a boulder) I carried up out of the Central Mine!  LOL Nearly gave Mom and Dad a heart attack!  One day, I'm going to make it back there too!

My German, French-Canadian, and Scottish-Canadian ancestors settled in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the 1860s, 1880s, and 1890s. The Copper Mines were in operation for over 100 years, but, it was a very exploitive industry that brought times of 'feast and famine'. The Boom Times showed amazing growth & development, but, things have been in decline, since post WW1.

Ultimately, many people had to leave the area to make a decent living. It is too far off the beaten path to be a popular tourist mecca.

---

When we went up there, it was the spring of 76, and the Edmund Fitzgerald had just sank the previous November.  The Central Mine, which we toured, was still in operation... the ONLY copper mine still in operation at that time.

The History of Michigan's copper industry is a very sad one.  I think that is one of the reasons Mom and Dad wanted to go.  We always took trips like that on Dad's vacations:  Always by car, and always to see some historic place or thing.  Mom and Dad always wanted us to see something and learn about something special, historic, and important.  Families don't really do that anymore.  Now-a-days, it's all about taking the kids to Disney World to make em happy!  Sad... :'(

Ok, I gotta tell you the copper-rock story. 

We took a tour of the still operating Central Mine.  Let me set the scene:  It was 97 steps (yes, I counted) down a wooden staircase to get into the mine shaft.  Several of the lower shafts were closed off because of flooding.  Mom, Dad, and 4 teens and a 5 year old were on this tour, when Rocket Scientist Paul asks the tour guide if I can keep any copper I find, to which he replies yes.

A little while later, I spot this rock (small boulder really) and I make the mistake of asking how much copper is in this rock.  I'm told about 40%.  Well, that was all I needed to hear.  Sooooo...  this scrawny 13 year idiot old picks up this thing, which weigh 75 pounds if it's an ounce, and carries it 97 steps out of that mine and places it next to the car.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are frantic because Paul is nowhere to be found in this mine.  They had the guides, and even miners searching for me!  They thought I had fallen down one of the closed off shafts.  But... I was out there next to the car protecting my investment!  Boy did I get it when they came out and found me standing there, LOL! 

Dad did let me keep the rock, and it sat in his front flower bed for 41 years until this spring, when it was brought to my new house.  I'll probably keep it forever and pass it down to my son!

The rock is about 18 inches across, and about 8 inches thick at it's thickest point.

---

Looks like a piece of 'conglomerate' ore, nice!

Ok, I must beg forgiveness, since I said we toured the Central Mine.  Central was a  ghost town.  We actually toured the Delaware Mine.  The rest of the story is all true!

Two former Mine workings are tourist attractions in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Quincy Mine (NPS) and Delaware (privately owned).

None of the working commercial Copper Mine operations, in the Keweenaw, allowed tours during my lifetime. It was just regarded as too dangerous.

Area Mining stopped in 1968. The price of Copper was too low and there was a labor strike.

We've been to the Quincy Shaft tour and tried to see the Delaware a couple of times, but, it was 'closed for the season'.

I had ancestors that worked at Cliff Mine, Delaware, and Phoenix Mine, all ghost towns now. The Mining operations moved south down the peninsula, and north from Houghton-Hancock, until they found the very rich 'Calumet Conglomerate Load', around 1866.

My grandfather was the Secretary of the Calumet and Hecla Rod & Gun Club. Their club house was at Delaware. Lots of relatives in the gun pictures!

---

Yeah... sometimes I have to take a step back and think.  I do remember visiting Central, which was abandoned.  Now, the ghost town is a tourist attraction.  We visited several mines, including Quincy, Central, Cliff, and Clark... but we toured Delaware.  We stayed in a cabin at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.  I remember those trips fondly because Mom and Dad always made those trips all about being together as a family!